Advice - Partner Threw Me Under the Bus Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a first year associate at a small boutique shop. I need some advice. A few months ago, I had drafted discovery requests and sent them to the partner I primarily work for to review -- the partner edited my drafts and mentioned in the email that s/he had removed some requests (which ended up being important). The other day, a named partner noticed that those discovery requests were removed--he got really upset and said it was a fuck up. He seems to be under the impression that I must have sent the wrong drafts to our paralegal. I forwarded the old email exchange regarding the edits to the partner I work for to remind the partner what had happened--I hoped the partner would bail me out and take responsibility. The partner responded to not worry about it and that was the end of it. I am new and make my share of mistakes, so taking responsibility for this makes it especially frustrating. I don't plan on mentioning anything to the named partner because I just see it creating drama with the partner I primarily work for. Is this the right move?

Thanks in advance.

[Bllljd115]

Wait, so had the requests been served?

It does not really sound like you know whether the partner threw you under the bus. He could have called the named partner and explained the situation off chain. If he did not put this on you specifically in an email, I'd be hesitant to call out a partner in front of a more senior partner. The partner knows the named partner better than you and knows whether this will come back and haunt you in the future or whether name partner will just chalk this up to a junior associate's mistake and forget about it in a week.

That being said, save that email for later.

[Arad]

Throwing people who have the ability to affect your career trajectory under the bus (assuming that is what the partner did; its unclear to me that is the case) is just dumb, even if they through you under the bus for something that was their fault.

[Anonymous User]

Wait, so had the requests been served?

It does not really sound like you know whether the partner threw you under the bus. He could have called the named partner and explained the situation off chain. If he did not put this on you specifically in an email, I'd be hesitant to call out a partner in front of a more senior partner. The partner knows the named partner better than you and knows whether this will come back and haunt you in the future or whether name partner will just chalk this up to a junior associate's mistake and forget about it in a week.

That being said, save that email for later.

OP here. Thanks for the response. Yeah, the requests were served. And though you are correct--I don't know for sure--I sent the forwarded email and the partner replied while we were all communicating from our offices (our law office is really small) about what could have happened. And subsequent conversations with the partner don't make me optimistic. Though I am pretty confident the partner did me wrong, I am not about to bring this up to the named partner unless I end up on the chopping block. And even then, I still probably wouldn't since it would likely be too late.

[swimmer11]

Could you serve supplemental requests? In my jurisdiction, you are generally able to send supplemental discovery requests, at will, until written discovery is closed by court order.

[beeoBoop]

Could you serve supplemental requests? In my jurisdiction, you are generally able to send supplemental discovery requests, at will, until written discovery is closed by court order.

Yeah I'll echo this. Unless discovery has closed under a scheduling order, just send another set of requests out. This isn't a big deal unless you've burned through all your interrogatories (which doesnt seem to be the case and is actually pretty difficult to do).

[Anonymous User]

I feel you dude. My boss did this to me several times in my in-house job and it was a big reason I wouldn't stay.